Bugbear
{{Short description|Creature from myth}}
{{about|the legendary creature}}
File:Bremerhaven Thiele 2.jpg (2006)]]
A bugbear is a legendary creature or type of hobgoblin comparable to the boogeyman (or bugaboo or babau or cucuy), and other creatures of folklore, all of which were historically used in some cultures to frighten disobedient children.{{Cite encyclopedia| title=Raven|encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary |editor=J. Simpson |editor2=E. Weiner | year=1989 |edition= 2nd| location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn= 0-19-861186-2}}
Etymology
Its name is derived from the Middle English word "bugge" (a frightening thing), or perhaps the Old Welsh word bwg (evil spirit or goblin),{{cite book| last=Briggs| first=Katherine M. |title=A Dictionary of Fairies| publisher=Penguin| location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex| year=1976| page=52| isbn=0-14-004753-0}} or Old Scots bogill (goblin), and cognates most probably English "bogeyman" and "bugaboo".
In medieval England, the bugbear was depicted as a creepy bear that lurked in the woods to scare children. It was described in this manner in The Buggbears, an adaptation, with additions, from Antonio Francesco Grazzini’s La Spiritata (‘The Possessed [Woman]’, 1561).{{Cite web|url=https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/emh68b2456693.pdf|title=Early Plays from the Italian|last=Bond|first=R. Warwick|website=warburg.sas.ac.uk|access-date=2019-01-07}}
In a modern context, the term bugbear may also mean pet peeve.{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bugbear|title=Definition of BUGBEAR|website=www.merriam-webster.com|date=13 July 2023 }}
In popular culture
Bugbears appear in a number of modern fantasy literature and related media, where they are usually minor antagonists.{{cite book|author1=Jon Saklofske|author2=Alyssa Arbuckle|author3=Jon Bath|title=Feminist War Games?: Mechanisms of War, Feminist Values, and Interventional Games|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8j3DDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT73|date=10 December 2019|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-00-075120-8|page=73}} They also appear as monsters, described as large, hairy goblinoids, in the canon of popular fantasy role-playing games.{{cite web |title=Bugbear - Pathfinder Wiki |url=https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Bugbear |website=Pathfinder Wiki |access-date=24 May 2020}}{{cite web |title=Bugbear - D&D Beyond |url=https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/bugbear |website=D&D Beyond |access-date=24 May 2020}}